BEIJING – When American laser-graffiti artist James Powderly was arrested and jailed for six days in Beijing during the Olympics last August for plotting to project the words “Free Tibet” on a building near Tiananmen Square, he probably wouldn’t have imagined that half a year later Greenpeace China would be allowed to do something similar – only this time with the message: “Time is Running Out to Stop Global Warming.”
On Monday Greenpeace China turned Yongdingmen, one of Beijing’s ancient city gates, into a gigantic countdown clock ticking down to the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December.
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| Greg Baker / AP |
| A security guard looks at the Greenpeace China countdown clock projected onto Yongdingmen Gate in Beijing on March 23. |
But while Greenpeace China, which was allowed to set up shop in Beijing in 2002 (albeit only as a “branch” of the Hong Kong- registered organization), has enjoyed greater leeway than most non-governmental organizations, that doesn’t mean the floodgates of public protest are now open to all comers. Rather, the group’s environmental message happens to dovetail nicely with the Chinese government’s growing recognition – spurred by public worries – of the importance of environmental protection.
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